MICHAEL CRISTOFER (Director) (Cris-tah-fer) is an award-winning
playwright, screenwriter, actor and stage, television and film director. He
received a Pulitzer and an Antoinette Perry "Tony" Award for the
Broadway production of his play, "The Shadow Box," and a Golden Globe
Award and Emmy nomination for the play's television adaptation which was
directed by Paul Newman and starred Joanne Woodward. His 1998 screen directorial
debut, HBO's "Gia," earned six Emmy nominations, its star, Angelina
Jolie, a Golden Globe and Cristofer a Directors Guild of America Award.

Cristofer has also acted extensively on stage including the Roundabout
Theater's production of "Hamlet" starring Stephen Lang. He won an Obie
for his performance in "Chinchilla" at the Phoenix Theater and a
Theater World Award for his role as Trofimov in the Lincoln Center production of
"The Cherry Orchard."

Cristofer's screenwriting career includes Falling in Love, an original
screenplay directed by Ulu Grosbard and starring Meryl Streep and Robert DeNiro;
the adaptation of John Updike's best-selling novel, The Witches of Eastwick,
for director George Miller, starring Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan
Sarandon and Cher and the adaptation of Tom Wolfe's best-seller The Bonfire
of the Vanities.

For eight years Cristofer worked as artistic advisor and finally co-artistic
director of River Arts Repertory, a company which produced the American premiere
of Edward Albee's "Three Tall Women" and new plays by writers such as
Richard Nelson, Mac Wellman, Len Jenkin, Eric Overmeyer and others. At River
Arts, Cristofer wrote stage adaptations of the films Love Me or Leave Me
and the legendary Casablanca and directed Joanne Woodward in his own
adaptation of Ibsen's "Ghosts."